Slayer-South Of Heaven *****
In 1988 Slayer traded their lightening quick speed for a slightly slower, chuggier more Black Sabbath sound. This certainly wouldn't be the last time they did this however, Christ Illusion and Diabolus in Musica have a similar sound and feel. But one thing is for sure, South Of Heaven is among, if not the very best Slayer release of all time.
Tom Araya is on his creative best both lyrically and bass wise. Though often cheesy in the lyric department it adds a charm. His vocals are also among his career best. Hanneman and King are easily at their best. Often playing the greatest solos of their career. 'Silent Scream' being an amazing example of such. Also because this is a slower album Dave Lombardo really shines setting in stone on this album his place as the greatest metal drummer in history.
Another notable plus about South Of Heaven is that of all Slayers albums of the 1980's this one has the greatest production over all presenting not a single flaw.
South Of Heaven is one of metal and Slayers crowning achievements. It is among the elite albums in the genres history even surpassing Reign in Blood in my opinion.
October 17, 2008If you read any "official" review of south of heaven you'll hear how slayer slooooooooooooooowed it down. And yeah it's true anybody that knows anything about Slayer knows they couldn't top the unadulterated speedfest that was Reign in blood and they wanted some slower songs for their live show to give it a more up and down effect but South of heaven isn't really all that slow. You'd think from all of the offical reviews they decided to be like Sleep or Eyehategod and go all sludge metal on us but that's not case. The vocals are more eerie and melodic than shrieky and the riffs are more precise and less chaotic but in my opinion mainly because of songs like south of heaven and mandatory suicide it still works! I would highly reccomed this CD for any fan of real metal
November 10, 2007That's all that should be said. But I'll say more anyway. Although Slayer slowed their tempos all the songs are still speedy. Just listen to Ghosts Of War or Behind The Crooked Cross. Both of those songs have Thrash and Speed. The guitars are also much better as well. Before it seemed like Jeff and Kerry were just randomly playing notes for their solos (that's probably what the were doing) that was awesome but now the solos are laid out and maybe even rehearsed! The drums are as always awesome and Tom's vocal are just as huanting as his classic screeches. My favorite tracks are South Of Heaven, Live Undead, Behind The Crooked Cross, Mandatory Suicide, and Ghost Of War. Definatly buy this.
August 18, 2007 |  | Of course it's good it's old school metal from SLAYER! |  |
The title of the reveiw says it all. This is Slayer's 5th album (only one more album left until nu metalville). It's a totally awesome album and imo it's the best out of Slayer's entire discography, only one bad song off of it. Sure Reign In Blood is the 2nd most popular metal album ever made (1st being Master Of Puppets) but imo this album beats Reign In Blood. South Of Heaven is a metal masterpiece. It's much slower than anything Slayer's ever done yet the way the guitars sound like are completely unique, old school sounding, amazing, and great! The drummer comes off as really awesome also. I really can't say much about the album except it's great and I definitly recommend it!
Favorites: Silent Scream(favorite and my favorite thrash metal song), Live Undead, Ghosts Of War, and Spill The Blood.
Least Favorites: Dissident Aggressor, Read Between The Lies, Cleanse The Soul. All of the songs are good in fact the only real bad song off the album is Dissident Aggressor. The rest fail to disapoint (including Cleanse The Soul and Read Between The Lies)!!!
May 19, 2007Slayer is the greatest metal band in history, and this cd just proves they can do something different. The songs are a bit slowed down but still are brutal. Silent Scream has probably the best scream Tom has ever done, and Mandatory Suicide is one of my faviorte Slayer songs of all time. A must have for metal fans.
April 15, 2007More reviews at Amazon.com ...
(152 reviews)